The Perfect Storm

Almost 93% of kids, ages 12-17, are online, and most exhibit a level of digital proficiency bewildering to those of us who want to protect them. Kids are feeling pressured to post provocative pictures, videos, and blog about their deepest personal experiences in a very public forum. Without guidance from parents and educators, few are thinking through the implications of their online actions. To make matters worse, many of the legal measures we need to protect kids on our virtual streets are unenforced or outdated, and law enforcement and prosecutorial efforts are often underfunded.

Significant gaps exist between the Internet’s dangers to children and the level of legal, enforcement-based, and industry-driven action dedicated to protecting children. In this ever-changing world, parents must stand in the gap and be the ‘first line of defense’ against child Internet victimization. The challenge is that children are the “digital natives,” and parents are the “digital immigrants.” Children are “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet, and many parents have not been able to develop digital proficiency. Parents are often left feeling overwhelmed, uninformed, or ill-equipped to adequately protect their kids online, but we at Enough Is Enough℠ are hear to help!

Over the past fifteen years, a number of dynamic, powerful, and destructive elements have come together, creating a “perfect storm” scenario for our children to fall victim to exploitation in the digital age. For the first time, sexual predators can communicate with unparalleled and anonymous access with our children, violating the safe walls of our homes, without our knowledge. There are over 644,865 registered sex offenders in the United States, and over 100,000 have been lost in the system. The Internet has also become the leading technology for distributing hard-core pornography, grossing $13 billion annually. Internet child pornography is a $3 billion per-year industry, and sadly, this horrific abuse represents one of the fastest growing businesses online. Everyone—including your child—is potentially one click away from having a virtual sexual interaction or being exposed to material once only available on the black market.

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